


Maybe all three of us...?

by GreyHaven



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Multi, Threegulls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 23:37:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15695688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreyHaven/pseuds/GreyHaven
Summary: Duke Crocker looked at Audrey Parker as though she’d hung the moon and that broke her heart.Back in that dingy hotel room in Colorado, where there was only one bed (and seriously, why was there only ever one bed?), she’d told him that she had twenty days and that wasn’t long enough to fix their friendship if she screwed it up.  He’d accepted that.  With the good grace that she’d come to expect from him, where he squashed his own feelings down, smiled, pretended he was fine and picked up exactly where they’d left off.As friends.





	Maybe all three of us...?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [serendipityxxi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipityxxi/gifts).



> I wrote a thing! It is not the thing that I am supposed to be working on but man, it feels good to have finished something. Unbeta'd because I'm fragile at the moment and even someone pointing out a typo is likely to break me.
> 
> For [serendipityxxi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipityxxi) for ongoing moral support and making me do writing homework ;)
> 
> Follows on from [Cuddle Me, part of my Tumblr Prompts fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10543588/chapters/31822092) and is set in an S4 AU where Audrey didn't go into the barn.

Duke Crocker looked at Audrey Parker as though she’d hung the moon and that broke her heart.  

Back in that dingy hotel room in Colorado, where there was only one bed (and seriously, why was there only ever one bed?), she’d told him that she had twenty days and that wasn’t long enough to fix their friendship if she screwed it up.  He’d accepted that. With the good grace that she’d come to expect from him, where he squashed his own feelings down, smiled, pretended he was fine and picked up exactly where they’d left off.

As friends.

Except, here they were, four months later, and she  _ hadn’t  _ disappeared.  Something she was still trying to get her head around - was she even  _ real  _ at this point?  She didn’t know and had put worrying about it to one side.  She might not be real but the Troubles  _ were  _ and that was her priority.

That and Nathan.

Because somewhere along the line, in the intervening four months, she’d made a  _ choice.   _ One she hadn’t even been aware she was making.  It had just sort of...happened. Isn’t that what everyone said about relationships?  That they just...happened? That was something else she wasn’t worrying about, it was good, she was happy, it didn’t matter  _ how  _ it had come about, the fact was that she was in a relationship with Nathan and whatever might have been between her and Duke was firmly in the past.

Except it wasn’t.  It really wasn’t. Because all he had to do was smile at her.  That little soft smile that he reserved just for her and she was  _ lost.   _ Her heart thudded faster, her chest felt just a tiny bit tight and there was a tingling in her palms like her hands wanted to take over and  _ touch him.   _

Every damned time.

Nathan had her back.  He grounded her. Brought her stability and a sense of  _ home.   _ But Duke - Duke walked by her side.  He lifted her. He was fire and heat and passion where Nathan was rock solid and so wonderfully predictable.

She loved them both and  _ damn them  _ for making her choose.

_ Why couldn’t they just get on?   _

If they weren’t actively trying to kill each other,  _ maybe  _ she’d have suggested a very different solution.  One where they could all be happy. Admittedly things had been better between them over the past few months with less punches thrown and Nathan actually answered Duke’s phone calls now which was an improvement on when she’d first arrived in town.  But it was still  _ tense.   _ She wouldn’t say they were friends and any ideas she might have had about the possibility of, well,  _ anything else  _ had been shoved way down where she couldn’t think about them anymore.

At least they were.

Right up until Nathan strode into their office wearing a sweater that she was certain was Duke’s and a somewhat bemused expression.  

He muttered apologies for being late and she raised her eyebrow at him, inviting him to explain, at which point he launched into what was apparently a very long and involved story involving a puppy, a river, and Duke’s place being the closest.  All summed up in as few words as possible.

“Wait,-” Audrey said.  “Did - did you spend the night at  _ Duke’s?”   _

Nathan made a humming noise that Audrey supposed was meant to be a  _ yes.   _

“Is he - is he ok?  Should I be calling the paramedics to go get him?”

This time, he glared at her, eyebrows furrowed, and apparently the joking wasn’t appreciated so Audrey gave a wry little shake of her head and tried to wipe the smirk off her face.

Which lasted all of five minutes.

“So you and Duke spent the night together?”  Yep, she was definitely smirking now and had no intention of trying to hide it.

“Parker,” Nathan all but whined, running a hand over his face, his shoulders hunched up somewhere around his ears.  He sat up and threw the pen he was holding onto the desk where it clattered, bounced, and fell on the floor. “Yes. Duke and I spent the night together.”

“I see...and was that...in his bed?”

The furrow between his eyebrows deepened.  “On his couch.”

“...Ok.”

A few minutes of silence passed before Audrey decided the subject needed to be returned to.

“I mean, was there any...I dunno, conversation or did the two of you just snuggle?”

Oh, oh dear, he was definitely looking glare-y now.  On the border of scowl-y and Audrey put on her best innocent expression.

“I was cold and wet, he let me use his shower, made me some soup, gave me some whiskey, then insisted I was still cold and made me cuddle up under a blanket with him.”

Wow.  That was...well, for a start, that was more words than Audrey had ever heard Nathan say all in one go but more to the point, there had been  _ cuddling.   _ Between  _ Nathan  _ and  _ Duke.   _ She suppressed a bark of surprised laughter.  Just.

“He  _ made  _ you?  Nathan, you love cuddling up under a blanket, it’s like your favourite thing ever.”

And now they were over the border into scowl-y and heading towards murderous so Audrey raised her hands in mock surrender and went back to her paperwork.

At least she tried to, until Nathan broke the silence with a loud sigh.  The sound he always made when something was frustrating him. The sound that was so similar to the one that Duke always made that Audrey had to wonder who’d picked it up from whom.  She looked up to find Nathan twiddling a pen in his fingers (a different pen, she noticed, from the one he’d thrown on the floor in his last fit of pique). He opened his mouth to say something and closed it again, then made an indeterminate sound that might have been a word but came out as more of a squeak and fell silent again.

While she waited (semi) patiently for him to say what he was going to say, Audrey admired him twirling the pen in those long, dexterous fingers and tried not to think about what those fingers could  _ do.   _ Something that wasn’t so easy given what they had  _ done  _ two nights ago.

She forced her thoughts back to more innocent ones when Nathan sat up and started speaking in coherent sentences.

Or at least she thought he was going to but what actually came out of his mouth was one word.

“Duke.”  He sounded significantly less growly than usual and Audrey raised one eyebrow.

“Could you be...a little more specific?”

Nathan gave her a look and turned his attention firmly onto the pen which he’d stopped twirling and started jabbing into his hand.  He did this sometimes. Audrey had tried to ask him why but...Nathan and words. She could only assume it was something to do with watching it dig into his skin and the almost-sensation that went with that.  

Whatever the reason, it wasn’t a  _ healthy  _ thing to be doing so she stood up and walked across to pluck it out of his fingers.  

He glared at her and immediately picked up another one which she also took from him.  This time, she took hold of his hand and perched on the edge of his desk and he smiled up at her, gripping her hand tightly, his eyes going soft as they met hers.

“What about Duke?”  She tried again.

“He…” Nathan let out a breath that was almost a sigh.  “Last couple months...he’s not who I thought he was. He’s...changed.”

Audrey nodded, smiling in what she hoped was an encouraging manner.  Pushing Nathan didn’t work, letting him get to it in his own time was the best way forwards.  

“Seen the way you two look at each other,” he said eventually.

“...Ok…”  Her heart galloped in her chest while she waited to hear what he was going to say next.  In a way, it was hardly surprising that he’d picked up on it despite how subtle Audrey thought she’d been.  Say little, notice everything. That was Nathan.

“Same way you look at me.  You, I mean, not Duke. Duke wouldn’t look at me like that.”  

His voice was thick but his face gave nothing away.  Audrey tilted her head to one side.

“He...Nathan, he kinda  _ does  _ look at you like that.  When he thinks you won’t notice.”

She could’ve cried at the expression of undisguised  _ hope  _ that crossed Nathan’s face, fleeting and barely there before it was replaced by something that could only be described as resignation.  

Nathan shook his head.  “Lotta water under that bridge.”

“There is, but...maybe we can work it out?”

There was a glimmer of hope again as he quietly said, “we?”

“Yes.  We. Nathan, I’ve seen the way you look at him too.  When you two aren’t at each other's throats… You’re good together.”

“You think?”  

_ Oh god,  _ his voice was so tiny and fragile and his face - his  _ face!   _ He looked like he might  _ shatter  _ if she so much as breathed wrong.

Audrey squeezed his hand.  “I  _ know.”   _

His hand answered hers.  “Where does that leave  _ us?” _

“That...depends very much on you and on Duke,” Audrey could hardly believe what she was saying and the galloping heartbeat was back - quickening when Nathan just stared back at her, waiting.  She ran her thumb over the back of his hand and hoped she wasn’t about to  _ screw this up.   _ “I - Nathan, I didn’t want to choose between you two.  I thought I had to but...if you feel the same way about Duke as I do...maybe the three of us could make something work?”

And now the heartbeat was thundering.  Nathan could probably hear it.  _ God,  _ the whole  _ town _ could probably hear it.

Nathan was silent.  Thoughtful.

He was silent for long enough that Audrey was about to say something, something that would  _ take it back,  _ something that would  _ fix it.   _

Just as she opened her mouth - to say  _ what,  _ she didn’t know - he nodded.

“Is that - Nathan, is that agreement or are you just nodding because you’re thinking?”  Audrey had to  _ ask.   _ His face had gone unreadable again, the way it did when he was processing and didn’t quite know how to react.

“Yeah.”

Which didn’t even remotely answer her question.

Audrey forced herself to breathe slowly.  “Yes to which?”

“Agreement.”

And there went the galloping heartbeats again.  “You really mean that?”

Nathan nodded again and Audrey threw herself into his arms, peppering soft kisses across his cheek.  

“You want to-”

“Can we-”

Their voices overlapped and Audrey buried her face in Nathan’s neck.  He let out a soft sigh and let her speak.

“Can we go and speak to Duke?  Or do you need some more time?”

“Wasted enough time.  God knows how much more we’ll get.”

Which was an excellent point.  One which hadn’t escaped Audrey’s notice.  Living in Haven was like living in a war zone.  No one knew what tomorrow would bring and maybe they all needed to be just a little bit more honest with each other because if the worst happened -

No.  Audrey was  _ not  _ letting herself think about that.  Not  _ now.   _ Not when everything she wanted was within touching distance.  She just had to reach out and grab it. And that involved talking to Duke.  Something she suspected wasn’t going to go quite so easily as talking to Nathan.

***

Which was very much the case.  It wasn’t exactly a straightforward start when they got to the Rouge and found her locked up tight against the winter storm that had hit last night and had almost blown itself out.  Duke’s awful yellow Landrover (why  _ yellow,  _ Duke?  Just  _ why?)  _ was gone but Nathan insisted on jumping out of the Bronco to knock on the hatch of the Rouge anyway.

Moments later, he returned, his hands stuffed in his pockets, stony faced and shaking his head.

“The Gull?” Audrey said.  Now that they’d started this whole thing, she was determined to see it through.  Now. Even if that meant driving all over town until they found Duke. She wouldn’t let herself think about what they might do if he was out of town because he wouldn’t be.  That was one thing she was certain of. Almost certain of, anyway.

Nathan nodded and Audrey stretched up to kiss the spot where a muscle was flickering in his jaw.  His stubble was rough, like sandpaper beneath her lips and - seriously - she needed to talk to him about that because kissing sandpaper was definitely not her favourite thing.  But he smiled down at her and that made it worth it. So worth it.

Still, he’d barely spoken since they left the station and she had to  _ know.   _

“Are you sure about this?”  Tension crept into her face and she forced herself to relax.

He nodded again.  “Just don’t know what to say to him.”

Which was probably a very fair point.  Audrey hadn’t thought that far ahead herself.  She just knew that she’d find the words from somewhere and that Duke would listen.  If nothing else, he’d listen.

“We’ll work it out.  Or I will and you can just nod and mumble agreement in the right places.”

That moment of levity, a light tease, must have been exactly what he needed because he gave her a tiny smile and pulled his hands out of his pockets to wrap his arms around her.

Audrey curled herself against his chest, taking a moment - as she often did now she was allowed - to take the reassurance he so desperately wanted to give her (and that he needed but would never ask for).

“Thanks, Parker.”

“Thanks, Wuornos,” she fired back at him.

He pulled away, just enough to look down at her, his brows furrowed but smiling and she wasn’t quite as fluent in eyebrow-language as he and Duke were but he was clearly asking  _ what for?   _

“Being you,” she said as she stood on tiptoes to kiss him.

His smile afterwards warmed her heart.

“Come on,” she said, tugging his hand.  “Let’s go get him.”

*

One yellow Landrover was parked haphazardly in the almost empty parking lot of the Gull.  It was still early, not yet busy with lunchtime customers, and they found Duke leaning on the bar, staring at a pile of paperwork like he hoped it would disappear.

He tensed as soon as he saw them, and stood up, alert and ready for action.  “What do you need?”

Audrey shook her head, unable to speak around the sudden lump in her throat.  Duke was always ready to  _ help.   _ No matter what.  He was there, no questions asked, to do whatever they needed.  And yes, he’d complain about it, lodge a token (or not so token) protest, profess that he didn’t want to help and ask why everyone thought he did, but he’d do it, regardless of any risk to himself.

And it destroyed her.  Every damn time.

While she was busy thinking about that and trying to stop her throat from closing up so she could actually  _ speak,  _ Nathan and Duke were communicating in eyebrow-language again.  Whatever Nathan was saying must have been reassuring because Duke visibly relaxed and gave a slow nod.

“Ok, so not Troubles related then?”

“Nope.”

Oh good, they were communicating in words.  At least that conversation was easier to follow, even if it wasn’t exactly  _ flowing,  _ and Duke had moved from wary and tense to confused and slightly-less-tense.

It was a start.

Audrey coughed and her throat obliged, loosening just enough that she could speak, even if her voice wasn’t entirely level.  “Could we - Duke, could we talk to you?”

“Uh.  Yeah. You want a...” Duke didn’t look any less confused as he made one of his expressive hand gestures to indicate that he was offering them a drink.

An offer which was, if Audrey was being honest, very tempting.  One which Nathan looked like he was about to accept. She cast her eyes around the bar.  It wasn’t busy yet, only one customer who was sitting in the corner and appeared to be settled in for a day of drinking, but it would be soon and this conversation…

This conversation wasn’t one which she wanted to be interrupted.  At least not for anything less than a life or death emergency - something that was a distinct possibility but she wasn’t going to think about that right now.

“...Maybe upstairs?”

Duke raised his eyebrows and tucked his chin into his neck.  “Upstairs? You want to talk...upstairs? And is this the sort of conversation that requires alcohol?”

Just as Audrey was about to reassure him that no, no it wasn’t, Nathan mumbled something that sounded like “probably” and Duke plucked a bottle of whiskey from behind the bar.

She led the way up the steps, Nathan at her back, Duke trailing behind him, and they were  _ quiet.   _ All of them were  _ quiet.   _ The air crackled with a tension that followed them upstairs and into the apartment.

Audrey shut the door behind them, closing out the sharp breeze and biting cold that was blowing in from the ocean as though she could close out the rest of Haven and keep them all here where it was  _ safe,  _ but all she succeeded in doing was closing the ever-thickening atmosphere in with them.  For the briefest of moments, she thought about backing out. Not saying anything. Making up some bullshit reason they wanted to speak to Duke, one that he would know was bullshit and let it slide anyway.  If she screwed this up, if she hurt either of them…

There was no way back from this.

Nathan had his hands tucked under his armpits, wearing an expression that was clearly  _ meant  _ to look casual but just made him look completely and utterly  _ lost.   _ A few feet from him, Duke’s face was a study in feigned nonchalance, his knuckles white where he gripped the bottle of whiskey as though it was a lifeline.

Maybe it was.  Either way, Audrey fought back the urge to hug them both, to drag them across to the couch and  _ snuggle  _ where it was safe and warm and no one had to  _ leave.   _ Talk first, cuddle later.  Hopefully.

With that in mind, she took a deep breath and started to speak.  “W-”

That was as far as she got before Duke held up his finger to stop her.  “You said this would require alcohol. No speaking until  _ alcohol.”   _

Audrey smiled, bemused as he started rummaging in the cupboards until he came up with a triumphant grin and three mismatched glasses which he poured generous measures of whiskey into.  He knocked his back and poured himself another one while Nathan was still sipping at his and Audrey hadn’t even picked hers up. A thought crossed her mind -

What the  _ hell  _ did he think she was going to say that he needed  _ two drinks  _ for?

Make that three because the second one had gone the same way as the first and he was pouring himself another glass, his intention to get very,  _ very,  _ drunk becoming increasingly obvious.

“Duke…” Audrey said as softly as possible, taking hold of his wrist to stop him.

His pulse raced beneath her fingertips as he fixed his eyes on hers and  _ there _ was that smile.  The one that he didn’t show to anyone else.  The one that she loved so much. A strand of hair flopped into his face and, unthinking, she brushed it away.

Which might have been a mistake because his shoulders stiffened and he took a step back, his eyes narrowing and locking onto Nathan’s as if he expected...well, as if he expected Nathan to throw a punch. But Nathan was still nursing his glass of whiskey and Duke’s gaze returned to Audrey with a slight dip of his head that wasn’t quite a nod.  He was ready to listen.

_ God  _ \- this was even more difficult than she’d imagined it would be. Audrey took a gulp of her whiskey, aware of Nathan doing the same before he took two steps closer and stood beside her.

“Don’t do words,” he said quietly.  “What Parker’s about to say...it’s coming from both of us.  Need you to know that.”

And  _ wow _ \- way to put pressure on her.  No backing out now. Not that she had any intention of it but an extra minute to find the right words would’ve been good.  An extra minute that she didn’t have because now… Now Duke was looking down at her expectantly and she had to  _ say something.   _

“Duke…” She said again.  “I don’t - we wanted to talk to you and I don’t know if I’m going to get this right, I don’t think there  _ is  _ a right way to say it, so I’m just...I’m gonna say it and we can - we can work out the details after, ok?”

“...Ok…?”  

_ God,  _ the expression on his face.  So cautious and confused and….if he wasn’t so good at hiding it, he’d look  _ scared.   _ But he was.  He  _ was  _ good at hiding it, at putting on that mask to show the world that he was  _ fine,  _ Duke Crocker was  _ fine  _ and he didn’t need anybody’s help or sympathy and Audrey had  _ no idea  _ how she was going to get past that mask and  _ reach him.   _

Nathan’s fingers brushed the back of her hand and she  _ drew  _ from that, from his soft encouragement.  

“We want you,” she blurted out, proving (once again) that while she might be great at helping  _ Troubled  _ people, she was really…. _ not good _ with people generally.

“I - uh - I...am going to need some context here…”

Asking for context was probably a fair enough request and Audrey’s mind raced, trying to come up with the perfect answer.  It had to be  _ right _ .  

While she searched for the right words, Nathan took a step forward and took hold of Duke’s upper arm, his fingers digging into the layers of material, and they were doing eyebrow-speak again, a wordless exchange that took Duke’s expression from one of confusion to one of barely concealed  _ hope _ .

“Want you,” Nathan echoed Audrey’s words from a moment earlier, his voice low and intense and between that and the eyebrows, Duke almost…

Duke almost  _ crumbled.   _ The layers of defensiveness fell away from him one by one and  _ there.   _ There he was.  Soft and open and honest in a way Audrey had only seen once before - in that hotel room in Colorado.  And maybe there was more to say but for now she was going to do what she did all those months ago. She stood on tiptoes and kissed him.

This time, she didn't stop.  She didn't  _ want _ to stop because he was warm and solid and in that moment, he was  _ everything.  _  He filled her senses and time stood still.

Just as he had then, he brought his hands to her face.  His strong, impossibly gentle hands that held her in place (held her  _ here) _ so he could kiss her back.  A kiss so thorough it took her breath away.  A kiss full of whiskey and coffee and sandalwood and she wasn't sure which she could smell and which she could taste.  Lips sliding against lips, insistently parting hers, the hint of tongue darting into her mouth. Searching. Tasting. There and gone again before she could respond.

He pulled away.  Just slightly, just enough to drop his hands to her shoulders and smile down at her.  That soft smile. The one he kept just for her.

Until now.

Now he turned that smile on Nathan and Audrey practically  _ felt  _ Nathan melt beside her (and who could blame him?  Being on the receiving end of  _ that smile  _ was enough to melt  _ anyone).   _

Nathan’s smile matched Duke’s.  One of those rare, precious, smiles where he was so  _ genuinely happy  _ that he couldn’t contain it, his lips curling upwards, his eyes lighting up.  Even his eyebrows had lifted out of the almost perpetual scowl that he wore.

They were doing their silent communication again and Audrey  _ wished  _ she understood what they were saying to each other in the minute tilt of heads, the flicker of eyelashes, the tiniest quirk of lips.  

Whatever it was, it worked for them.

At least she assumed it did because Nathan took a step forward and wrapped his fingers around Duke’s upper arm again in a gesture that broke Audrey’s heart and filled it with joy all at once.  It was so  _ familiar.   _ And Nathan was so  _ gentle.   _ He knew exactly how to keep his grip light enough not to hurt Duke but firm enough that he could feel it.  It was a touch that they must have practiced  _ so many times  _ over the years that it was second nature to him.  Muscle memory. A touch which screamed of a closeness between them that they’d lost and only just rediscovered.

And Nathan  _ couldn’t feel it.   _

No more than he could feel Duke’s hand resting on his waist.  Or his breath on his cheek as he leaned in. Or the pressure of Duke’s lips when they brushed against his.  

Nathan was missing out on  _ so much  _ and he never complained.  Not even to her. Not even in the dark, cuddled up under the covers, when it was  _ safe.   _ He just...he just  _ dealt with it.   _ In his strong and silent way.  But Audrey knew how much he struggled with it.  It wasn’t in what he said (or didn’t say), but every time he jammed his hands in his pockets or tucked them under his arms, she  _ knew.   _

She knew he did that because he couldn't feel his hands and had injured them so many times.  Enough times that, even if she asked, he wouldn't be able to tell her how many cuts he'd had stitched up or how many broken fingers he'd had splinted.

He closed himself off to protect himself.  

Add that to the list of things that broke Audrey Parker’s heart.

But somehow, even though he couldn’t feel it, he was kissing Duke  _ back.   _ Which - if she was being  _ entirely honest -  _ watching that was...kinda hot and definitely...distracting...

When Duke pulled away, he was grinning.  “Just like I remember,” he said, sounding ridiculously pleased about it.

Audrey tilted her head to one side.  That was...interesting. Not that she hadn’t suspected they’d had  _ something  _ before, that had been glaringly obvious in their every interaction, but having that suspicion confirmed...she couldn’t quite help the frisson of fear that ran through her.

_ If she’d just brought them back together, was there still room for her? _

A thought that vanished from her mind when Nathan turned to her and stepped forwards, smiling as though she was his whole world, his blue eyes locked onto hers, piercing her in the way that only he could.  In the way that said  _ I see you, Audrey Parker.   _

And then he kissed her, his soft lips full of reassuring intensity and words he could never say.   His hands rested on her hips, grounding her in reality just as she’d thought she was about to float away, and everything about the kiss felt like  _ coming home.   _ Safe.  Warm. Welcoming.  And over too soon.

Every kiss they ever shared - all three of them - would be over too soon because all she wanted was to  _ keep doing this  _ (and maybe some other things too, things that started with kissing and ended up with nakedness and napping together under a hundred blankets).  

As Nathan drew away from her, Duke cleared his throat.

“So, uh….so where do we go from here?”

It was a fair question but Audrey’s mind raced as she tried to work out how to answer it.  Where  _ did  _ they go from here?  Both Nathan and Duke were staring at her expectantly and  _ why?   _ Why did they assume she had the answers?  She didn’t. This was as new for her as it was for them and she didn’t have a clue.  Except… Start small. Simple. Take it from there.

She took a deep breath and smiled at Duke.  “Remember that date you asked me on…? Dinner...could we - maybe - all three of us?”

“Yeah.”  Duke was smiling back, soft and sweet and  _ absurdly pleased.   _

“I’d like that,” Nathan said, his voice quiet - so quiet - but full of an almost painful  _ honesty. _

“I would too,” Duke said, just as quietly, prompting Nathan to drag him into a hug.  One of Nathan's  _ I can't bear to be apart from you for even a minute longer  _ hugs.  The sort of hug that made Audrey want to stop time and stay in that moment forever.

Duke didn’t seem quite so keen on the idea.  He tensed as Nathan’s arms closed around him, just for a second, barely long enough to be noticeable, before he wrapped his arms around Nathan’s back and relaxed into the embrace.

_ Oh Duke.   _ Audrey wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen anyone quite so…. _ surprised  _ to be hugged as Duke was.  She was just going to have to make sure he got as many hugs as possible.  So many that he might finally believe he was worthy of them.

And that was starting now.  She wasn’t wasting another second.

They parted easily as she nudged her way in between them, making space for her without letting go of each other, and she fit  _ perfectly.   _ Right there, sandwiched between her two  _ stupid,  _ terrible-at-communicating, idiot boys, with Nathan pressed along her back and her head buried in Duke’s sweater, listening to the slow thud of his heartbeat.  Right there was where she wanted to spend the rest of her life.


End file.
